The Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) has today taken initial delivery of two Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft from Boeing.

AEW&C Program Manager, Air Vice Marshal Chris Deeble said the aircraft ˆ known as ŒWedgetail‚ ˆ is critical to Australia‚s Air Combat Capability and will play a key role in achieving the Australian Defence Force‚s (ADF) network-enabled war fighting capability.

„The Wedgetail aircraft is a Œfirst of type‚ development and extremely complex, given the range of cutting-edge radar technology and sensors that will be incorporated into each aircraft.

„Development, test and evaluation are still ongoing with many hurdles still to be overcome, particularly with respect to radar, electronic support measures and integrated system performance and stability.

„However with the initial delivery of two aircraft, Defence will now be able to conduct familiarisation training while Boeing completes the remaining test program and acceptance activities,‰ AVM Deeble said.

I'm back! After having over 3 Year's back in the UK, i've moved back to Melbourne.

I'll be heading to Newcastle at the end of November for a few days, i'm just wondering if anyone know's how busy this place can be both civil and military wise? I've noticed there's a cafe & museum at the end of the runway which is a definate place i'll be visiting. Is that any good for viewing?

Frequencies... These are the one's i've found... Are these still in date?:

For those interested, a Qantas B767-300ER diverted to Newcastle yesterday after circling the coast for several hours. Most likely a issue with the airplane, however it made some erratic movements, and was probably running low on fuel at the time. Registration is VH-OGU and was operating QF460 MEL-SYD.

Nicholas S wrote:For those interested, a Qantas B767-300ER diverted to Newcastle yesterday after circling the coast for several hours. Most likely a issue with the airplane, however it made some erratic movements, and was probably running low on fuel at the time. Registration is VH-OGU and was operating QF460 MEL-SYD.

Most likely not the most exciting movement ever at NTL, but QantasLink B717 operating a charter CBR-NTL today as QF1954, arriving at 1505, then positioning to SYD at 1545. Looks like being VH-YQT. Another B717 charter through on Sunday, positioning in from BNE before operating the charter sector NTL-CBR as QF1955.